Watermelon Jelly

October 23, 2011 —by Lindsay

get fresh recipes via email:

Send Me:New PostsNewsletter

You might be wondering what happened to the rest of our watermelon surplus. You know, the 1 1/2 watermelons that were left after we made popsicles. Let’s just say they are now jarred and jiggly versions of their former selves.

Maybe it’s the fact that I missed the majority of the canning season this year. But as the summer dwindled I was prepared to stick just about anything in a jar. And watermelon just happened to be one of those things.

Apparently it’s not that common, because I couldn’t really find a tested recipe for it. So I improvised, using a basic recipe for mint jelly on the pectin pack (I figured watermelon juice couldn’t be any different than minty water, and substituting it would be fine).

So I now I have all these little jars of sunset-colored jelly. And no clue what to do with it. Since it is such an unusual preserve, I’m stumped. What would YOU do with it? Most creative idea just might win a jar from me.

Watermelon Jelly

Ingredients:

Directions:

To make watermelon juice, roughly chop watermelon. You’ll need about 6 cups of chopped melon to produce about two cups of juice. Run melon through a food mill (if you have one), or crush and then strain through a fine mesh sieve to remove any seeds or pulp.

Combine watermelon juice, lemon juice, and sugar in a 6 to 8-quart nonreactive saucepan. Bring to a full roiling boil (a boil that doesn’t stop bubbling when stirred) over high heat, stirring constantly.

Quickly stir in pectin. Return to a full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with a metal spoon.

Ladle hot jam into jars, leaving 1/4-inch of headspace. Wipe the rims clean and top with lid; screw on ring until finger tight. Process in a boiling water bath for 7 minutes. Remove from water and let cool completely, 12 to 24 hours. Check seals. Any unsealed jars should be refrigerated and used within 1 month.

So pretty! I don’t know why, but my first thought would be to use it as a glaze for grilled chicken, with maybe a feta salad as a side? It’s such a beautiful color, though. I would hate to use it somewhere that you couldn’t see how lovely it is!

I love the combination of watermelon, mint, and feta and saw a lot of salads with those ingredients on blogs this summer. I wonder if you could turn it into a winter appetizer by spreading the watermelon jelly on crostini or bread, and topping it with a mint leaf and some crumbled feta!

An appetizer perhaps: some chevre, prosciutto on some lightly toasted baguette with a small smear of watermelon jelly? Something akin to the classic prosciutto/melon pairing (but with a bit more sweetness and crunch).

I have a few of those kinds of preserves that I made this year and now need to figure out what to do with them. As for as your Watermelon Jelly…how about a reduced glaze for a fruit tart? I am thinking it might be especially good with peaches and plums. I know it’s the wrong time of year for peaches, but I just saw beautiful Italian plums the other day. :)

My grandma used to make watermelon jelly and with with rinds, she’d make watermelon pickles. Sounds meh…but they are the best pickles ever. So old school. No one has ever even heard of that most of the time.

if I could get my hands on watermelon right now, I’d be all over that jelly of yours!

One of the best salads we had this summer had peaches, watermelon, tomatoes and feta so I would make brushetta! Ricotta + feta + mint as the base, watermelon jelly on top of that, and tomatoes on top of that.

You could use it as a glaze on tempeh, and serve it with a couscous salad. I think it’d be delicious! I assume this same recipe would work with any melon? I have some melon left from my CSA that needs to be eaten/used very soon.

When I worked in this little cafe last year, we made amazing homemade cantaloupe preserves. We served it with a prosciutto, havarti cheese, and arugula panini. We sliced the panini into thin strips and served it with the preserves on the side for dipping. This would be fantastic for that!

I’m just brainstorming, but I’m thinking of a sweet and sour type glaze made from it, some balsamic, and some sriracha or just red pepper flake. I think it’d be good with chicken or lamb, or maybe even fried Brussels sprouts.

My first thought was to use it in pepper jelly,
Second I would try it in a ham glaze
Lastly I thought of a custard, now this one sounds iffy but it might be something really new and different.
OK for real lastly.. in a rum drink it would top off the evening.
I made watermelon juice last year. Cantaloupe juice too. This year apple cantaloupe juice and syrup.

Wow that’s definitely a unique jelly there (and so pretty!). I’m not really sure what you could do with it, it’s a little hard to say without having some around to taste (hint hint) but maybe it would be good on a sandwich with some funky cheese like feta?

Envision with me: home made English muffins, toasted (but not too toasty), with cream cheese and watermelon jelly. A little bit of sweet and a little bit of salt on top of something as lovely as an English muffin? Sounds good to me.

I think this would be excellent included into a basket for Christmas for your friends or family where you theme the basket
” Picnic in December” or ” Summertime Remembered” with jars or colorful bags of seasonings for bbq or buffalo wings..
ingredients to make homemade ice cream…homemade hot dog or hamburger rolls…your watermelon jelly…perhaps
garnished with fresh produce like grapes, bananas…even including Grilling Tools …decorated with artifcial flowers that
remind us of summer like sunflowers or daisies or daffodils. Mine would be lined with dish towels and pot holders with
bright red cherries. The basket would exude ” summertime”…..( wink). ( of course..if you were rolling in money at Christmas
..you ~ could~ put it all on top of an indoor Hibachi…)

ok.. maybe you didn’t buy that one..but I spend every Christmas coming up with my next unique THEME for my Christmas
baskets. I do NOT buy gifts for people I bake..sew..and cook and put together amazing collections of things for them to eat
on for a week.. long after the sox and gloves get put away after Christmas morning.

Last year I made ” Mexican Baskets” .. which included homemade salsa.. chips..mini maracas ( sp)..note pads that looked like
hot peppers..hand made dish towels and pot holders made from hot pepper fabric..sombreros..garnished with long green
Anaheim Chili Peppers..jars of ” Chili with Bean Soup”…and of course my usual homemade breads..cookies…candy..with
a sprinkling of colorful hershey kisses and candy canes to make it look like it is brimming over.

I love watermelon and bet this jelly is amazing! There are some great suggestions above, but my first thought would be peanut butter and jelly. Simple and delicious. You could also use it to glaze berries for the top of a tart.

When I was growing up my Grandmother used to make water melon jelly for us. We absolutely loved it on hot fresh sour dough toast! My daughters who are now 15, were able to enjoy this sweet treat with me and my husband when they were young. They remember going to Great Grandmothers home and when we would enter her home they would hug and squeeze her legs and beg for water melon jelly! Their father would run into the kitchen and fix them all a piece of sour dough toast and watermelon jelly. It was such a sweet memory. It has been 10 years now, Steven (their father) passed away from renal failure. Gone are those days. Taylor has been asking for some watermelon jelly for a couple of years and I thought that it would be easier to find than this but I have not found any yet. To hear the stories of each of your comments, has been an awesome blessing and a great reminder of why Taylor is probably remembering watermelon jelly so fondly! LOL! So I now have hope! It is not a dream that I dreamed of, it is real and I will still be looking so if you hear of anyone that makes and sells this jelly, please send me a web address. This brings back memories of the good things of my childhood and those moments that we shared with their father before he passed away. Thank you for a sweet reminder!

I’m not a great cook and a very new reader who didn’t bother to read the other comments but I’d love to get watermelon jelly in a gift basket with a loaf of bread….something dense and wonderful. Or, just a jar…we love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at this house.

This definitely looks enticing!
Have you tried it yet? How does it taste? Watermelon is quite a faint flavour when mixed into frozen yogurt or ice cream… so I’m wondering if it’s got much flavour or if it’s more of a sugary taste?

Actually, we had it all the time growing up because I lived very near some of the best melon-growing ground in the USA. We used it as a jelly just like any other. Toast mostly, but also on waffles and pancakes, cup cake filling, My grandma has an amazing cheese cake recipe and she would make a special mint cheesecake served with watermelon jelly sauce, instead of a strawberry or blueberry sauce.

How so? Did it just not set up? The recipe is written as I recall and doesn’t seem to be missing anything, but I will say I’ve had issues myself with liquid pectin lately. I don’t know if they changed the formula or what but it hasn’t been setting nearly as well as powdered pectin. If I were to make this again I’d probably try to use that instead (of course, the recipe process would need to be modified, but the overall ingredients and things should stay the same).

I made this a couple of nights ago. The set is not as gelled as i like, so I’m going to see if it sets within a week. If not, i may just keep it for watermelon mojitos or margaritas. I may recook it with more pectin, but that is pretty unlikely. Next time, i will use powdered pectin. It does taste good!

The jelly was good. I put about a 1/3 of a small watermelon in a blender the strained it with cheese cloth. I had more than enough juice. I sealed all but one jar on a water bath. The one not in the water bath was syrupy.

Okay, I made one batch = 7 jars each are 4 oz jars. Looks just like yours. And while the canning pots still had hot water and the stove top was waiting. I made batch number two. That gave me 14 jars of great looking “jelly”. It has been 48 hours since these where sealed and now cooled off. But they never set up like jelly. Only a thick syrup.

I have not made this recipe as of yet, but my Non-GMO Organic Home Grown watermelon and cantaloupe are patiently wanting for there debut!

I have however, made tomato jelly this year and my husband loves it on ice cream and I like it on gluten free pancakes!! YUM…so my thinking is this beautiful Watermelon Jelly will be used in the same manner.

I make lots of jelly. All kinds. And I just tried this recipe and it’s been 5 hours and it’s still sitting on the counter but is very much still liquid and I don’t feel like it will set up at all. But we will see tomorrow.

Sometimes a jelly like this can take a few days to fully set.
If it doesn’t, you can always take it out of the jar and cook it again with more pectin (maybe a different variety – I have had varying levels of success with liquid pectin, I suspect they’ve changed the formula).

I saw this recipe and thought wow I’ve got watermelon chunks in the freezer now I can use them for something other than a adult drink lol. I just got done making Fireweed jelly so I’m gonna give this a shot. I think it would go good over a cream cheese and serve with crackers for a light snack.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment

Name *

Email *

Website

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.We only ask for your name and e-mail so we can verify you are human and if requested notify you of a reply. To do this, we store the data as outlined in our privacy policy.

Get fresh recipes!

Most Recent Posts

Looking for Something?

Get fresh recipes via email:

Send Me:New PostsNewsletter

What's Trending

About Lindsay & Taylor

Welcome to Love & Olive Oil, the culinary adventures of Lindsay and Taylor. We're all about food that is approachable but still impressive, unique and creative yet still true to its culinary roots. (More...)